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Improving student learning in business schools: Student perceptions of the use of ‘live’ case

studies.

Vicki Golsby and Anne Gleeson

Flinders Business School

FBS Working Paper Series: 2012-01 ISSN 2200-257X

Abstract. This paper describes how the authors used two small businesses as ‘live’ case studies in teaching a third year electronic business subject to encourage students to gain a deeper understanding of the theories and concepts taught in the classroom and to apply theoretical material to a real business. Two models of student learning processes were used as the basis for explaining how the use of real cases could encourage higher order learning in students: the Learning Styles model and the Approaches to Learning model. Students’ perceptions were that the use of the real businesses promoted deeper understanding of the curriculum and improved their learning outcomes.

Key Words: Business education, business schools, learning via case studies and skills development.

Traditional teaching methods focus on the ‘sage on the stage’ (Jones 1999, King 1993), where

information is downloaded by the lecturer for the passive student to absorb. Under this approach

students may not interact with or think deeply about the concepts presented, and can tend to reproduce

and/or apply the information received in their exams and in other (usually written) outputs. This

approach has come under significant examination and criticism over the past couple of decades, as it

has been seen as not producing the higher order thinking skills called for from higher education (Bligh

1998).

Further, the ‘sage on the stage’ approach does not adequately build ‘soft’ skills such as communication

and team working skills which are required by today’s employers, as outlined in numerous

government and industry studies (e.g. Matthews, Jackson and Brown 1990, Australian Chamber of

Commerce and Business Council of Australia 2002, Precision Consulting 2007, Kavanagh and

Drennan 2008, Jackson 2009, Smith, Brooks, Lichtenberg, McIlveen, Torjul and Tyler 2009).

This may be particularly important for international student graduates, as competency in English

language, effective communication, team-working and effective problem solving skills were

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nominated as the four most common key attributes they looked for when employing international

graduates (Australian Government Australian & Education International 2010).

A different approach to teaching may be required to encourage learning that goes beyond basic

knowledge and encompasses the higher order thinking skills (as identified by Anderson and

Krathwohl, Eds 2001, Forehand 2005) of understanding, application, analysis, evaluation and creation,

in addition to the development of greater employability skills.

There is evidence to suggest that in order to enhance the learning process, it is necessary to consider

the student role. Schuell (1986) highlights that the student role is more important in determining the

level of learning achieved than the role of the teacher, and Biggs (2003) puts this in perspective by

stating that meaning is generated by students themselves, rather than something that is simply

conveyed from teacher to student.

If we accept the students’ responsibility in the learning process, we may then start to think how the

student can best generate meaning in their learning. In this study, it was decided to introduce a ‘live’

case study into a third year level undergraduate Electronic Business course at a South Australian

university, with the aim of enhancing student learning and contributing to the development of ‘soft’

skills for students. In this article, we respond to Kreber’s (2001) call to “….reflect on both existing

educational research on the use of case studies and [our] personal experience using case studies with

students, and disseminate [our] findings”. Firstly, we discuss two often-used models of learning in the

literature to outline how we believe a ‘live’ case study method could encourage higher order learning

in the students. Next, we discuss how the live case study was used in teaching. Finally, we discuss the

findings of two student surveys on their perceptions of the effect of using the live case study method

on their learning.

THE APPROACHES TO LEARNING MODEL AND LIVE CASE STUDIES

Over the past few decades, two models of student learning have been widely discussed. We hoped that

using real businesses in the case study would bring benefits to the learning environment which would

enhance student learning, and that these benefits could be explained when either of these models of

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student learning was adopted. Cuthbert (2005) has identified that numerous US writers and

management education practitioners have favoured the ‘Learning Styles’ model attributed to Kolb

(1984), while non-management educators in the UK and Australia have often favoured the

‘Approaches to Learning’ model, attributed to Entwhistle and Ramsden (1983).

The Approaches to Learning model identifies that different learning outcomes depend on the different

learning intentions of students. Richardson (2005) states that there are three approaches to learning

and they can be classified as ‘learning for understanding’ or a deep approach, ‘learning for

reproducing’ or a surface approach and ‘learning for achievement’ or a strategic approach. In higher

education, often there is an expectation that students will use a ‘learning for understanding approach’

which is associated with higher levels of learning in Bloom’s taxonomy (Bloom and Krathwohl 1956).

This is in preference to the surface approach whereby students merely reproduce the information they

have absorbed. This approach is often associated with lower levels of thinking. The strategic

approach, or ‘learning for achievement’, is an approach aimed at grade maximisation, which may

occur with or without understanding.

Students may have different learning intentions for different tasks and contexts, and therefore it is

possible to manipulate the task and context to hopefully improve the likelihood of deeper learning

(Prosser & Trigwell, 1999). In this study, it was expected that through the use of a real small business

as the case study students would be encouraged to use a deeper approach to learning the subject’s

concepts than they may have otherwise. It was further anticipated that the use of a real business would

motivate students to perform at a higher standard and therefore encourage a deeper approach. It was

also hoped that the potential complexity of the open-ended, live situation compared to the more de-

limited fictional case study would encourage group collaboration and, as suggested by Weil et al

(2004) and Cullen, Richardson and O’Brien (2004) increase the chances of a student taking a deeper

approach to learning.

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THE LEARNING STYLES MODEL AND LIVE CASE STUDIES

The Learning Styles model is based on Kolb’s model of experiential learning (Kolb 1984), which built

on the work of a number of important contributors to models of learning, such as John Dewey, Kurt

Lewin, Jean Piaget and Carl Jung. In his book Kolb discusses that learning is the process where

knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Kolb (1984) outlined a learning

process with two primary dimensions, the first being the way an experience is taken in or perceived,

and the second being the way the experience is transformed into learning. The taking in of the

experience (‘prehension’) is through a concrete experience, which is through felt qualities such as

intuition and tacit understanding (‘apprehension’) at one end of the dimension, and conceptual

interpretation and symbolic representation (‘comprehension’) at the other. The transformation

dimension is through reflective observation at one end, and active experimentation (manipulation of

the external world) at the other.

To be effective, learners need four different kinds of skills and abilities (Meredith and Burkle, 2008):

1. concrete abilities, to involve themselves fully in the experience;

2. abstract conceptualisation abilities, which allow the learner to create concepts that integrate

their observations into logically sound theories;

3. reflective observations abilities so they can reflect on and observe their experiences from

many different perspectives; and

4. active experimentation abilities, so they can use these theories to make decisions and solve

problems.

New knowledge, skills or attitudes are achieved through these four stages of experiential learning, yet

these abilities are polar opposites in many cases. Learners will continually choose which set of

abilities they bring to a specific learning situation, but they will often have a preferred method of

dealing with information and learning, and these are the learning styles based on the four different

quadrants of the learning process. If the learner suppresses different modes of learning and allows a

dominant learning style, then learning will occur around the dominant mode. The deepest learning

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occurs when all four skills are brought to bear on the learning situation. Therefore learning can occur

from either reflecting or acting on a felt or abstract experience. However, the most meaningful

learning occurs when learners progress through all four stages of the learning process (Kolb 1984).

Kreber (2001) states that case studies can be used in conjunction with a problem solving model that

effectively engages students in all four stages of the experiential learning cycle. She states that

reading through a case study will provide students with the concrete experience and the student then

conceptualises the problem and transform it through active experimentation and reflection, leading to

higher order learning. The use of case studies to provide experience in developing skills and

competence is confirmed by Akella (2010). O’Shannassy, Kemp and Booth (2010) state that case

studies can offer a viable substitute for work experience through exposure to a diverse range of

business problems.

Weil et al (2004) found that candidates of the Professional Accounting School of the Institute of

Chartered Accountants of New Zealand perceived case studies used in their courses to be most useful

in improving their ability to evaluate situations from more than one perspective, and in developing

their ability to consider alternative solutions within a list of fifteen generic communications, problem

solving and presentations skills. Notably, non-native English speakers found the development of

communication skills more beneficial from the case study method than native English speakers.

However, Cleveland and MacDonald (2010) mention the limitations of case studies, saying that some

students do not attempt to read the case studies and other students may have poor reading skills. Their

paper further outlines that written case studies can be ineffective because the concepts outlined are not

a part of the students’ ‘living human lifeworld’. Cleveland and MacDonald focused on

recontextualising material presented to students by creating a more practical fictional case study,

providing realistic characters to engage the students in more life-like situations, thereby developing

student’s problem solving skills.

An alternative to creating more realistic fictional cases is the use of ‘live’ case studies, where the

students are involved with a real business, solving genuine business problems. Several writers have

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discussed the use of ‘live’ cases studies in the curriculum. Gentry (1990) maintains that using small

business cases in the curriculum can facilitate the use of feedback and encourage student participation

and interaction in a real world environment. Elam and Spotts (2004) also advocate the use of ‘live’

case studies, outlining that they can be beneficial as they involve students interacting with business to

solve an actual problem.

Meredith and Burkle (2008) build on Kolb’s learning cycle, outlining that lecturing to students without

the benefit of real experience will leave students without complete learning of the subject matter.

They point out that universities provide the theory, concepts and reflection, but generally fail to

provide concrete experience to learners. The live case studies more closely provide the concrete

experiences so often missing in higher education. This view is supported by Gentry (1990) who states

that the live case study has excellent experiential learning potential.

Scharf and Bell (2002) outline that ‘live’ case studies actually increase business students’ overall skill

set. They argue that using the ‘live’ case studies approach provides benefits to business students by

improving both their ‘hard’ (e.g. research skills) and ‘soft’ (e.g. communication, decision-making and

teamwork) skills. The authors explain that many ‘soft’ skills cannot be fully developed in the

classroom. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Business Council of Australia reported similar

findings in 2002, stating that employers recognised there were difficulties associated with developing

some employability skills in the classroom. Scharf and Bell (2002) also discuss the increased

motivation and confidence displayed by students whose studies involved working directly with small

businesses.

Case studies have been presented as an effective way to create new ways of thinking in business

education and of exchanging knowledge with industry (Wynn, Jones, Roberts and Little, 2008). This

article cites action learning as a viable method of using real case studies for motivating students and

supporting reflective practices. Munro and Cook (2008) speak glowingly of student and community

results from the authentic learning environments that students experience in doing case studies with

actual small businesses in their business and enterprises subjects.

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However, Golen, Burns and Gentry (1984) looked at communication barriers in teaching business

courses and they found that a lack of knowledge can be a hindrance to students studying ‘live’ case

studies, more so than with students relying on straight lectures.

We speculated that by using a real small business as the case study, students would be encouraged to

use all four stages of the learning cycle. It was hoped that a visit by the small businesses to the

lecture, and accessibility to the firm’s current website, would provide the real life situation in which

information would be processed on an emotional and intuitive level by the students (concrete

experience). Students would need to conceptualise the issues the small business owner presented

(abstract conceptualisation), and would draw on the theories and concepts presented in the course,

thinking about how they would pertain to, and apply to the small business (reflective observation) and

testing ideas out amongst themselves whether, and how those concepts related to best electronic

strategy for the business (active experimentation).

Affective aspects of learning, soft skills and live case studies

The two models of learning outlined in this paper are fundamentally concerned with the cognitive

issues associated with learning. Learning occurs within people and in social situations. Affective

aspects of learning are also important, including factors such as student motivation, attitudes and

values. Harlen and Deakin-Crick (2003) summarised eight of the most important aspects of the

affective domain that help or hinder learning. It was anticipated that the live case study approach

would stimulate interest in the course and motivate students to want to do a good job, which are both

aids to quality of learning.

Finally, it was expected that the live case study would further develop students’ ‘soft’ skills.

Specifically, it would provide students with a greater understanding of the resource constraints faced

by small business and the practical reality of the business environment. Further, it would give students

opportunities to develop their oral and written communication, team work and problem solving skills

which are key employability skills for both domestic and international students (Hancock et al 2009,

Australian Government and Australian Education International, 2010).

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METHOD

Two small businesses were selected from the local area with the assistance of a local business

association. One business was a manufacturer and the other was a service provider.

In 2011, a fictitious case study was substituted with two ‘real-life’ small businesses. Students were

assigned in groups of four to work over several weeks to produce a formal report outlining

recommendations to improve the electronic business strategy for one of the businesses (worth 25% of

the overall mark for the course). Group work was deemed essential in this project, as a way of

building many of the ‘soft’ skills valued in the modern workplace (Hunter, Vickery and Smyth 2010,

O’Shannassy, Kemp and Booth 2010).

Small businesses were selected for the project as a significant proportion of graduates are employed in

Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). In 2007, forty-two percent of employees in Australia

worked in small business (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2010). Information from the 2010 Graduate

Destination Survey identified that thirty-five percent of graduates were employed in SMEs. The

prospect to build industry and student knowledge was apparent.

The two small business owners attended the lecture in week six of the semester. They each spoke

about their business, their current electronic business strategy and their ideas for their electronic

business into the future. Students had the opportunity to ask questions of the businesses and heard

firsthand the limitations on the businesses, specifically those relating to improvement or updating of

their web presence. The information provided by the small business owners was comprehensive, as

the authors had previously briefed the businesses on the areas the students needed to know about.

We used an adaption of the survey instrument used by Meredith and Burkle (2008) who surveyed

students on their opinions after implementing a consultancy team approach where students interacted

directly with industry. The students were surveyed twice on their perceptions of the project during the

semester. The first survey was conducted in the week after the small business owners’ visit. To

encourage free and frank answers, the students were not identified in any way. Students were asked

some basic demographic information, and a set of questions to be answered using a five point Likert

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Scale and two open ended questions where students could provide comments or concerns. See

Appendix 1 for a copy of the student survey administered. Note that questions 9 and 10 are not

discussed in this article as they will be discussed in a subsequent article.

Feedback from the open questions in the first survey suggested students had reservations about the

group work and a lack of information on the small businesses. Of the seventy-two surveys returned,

twenty-four students expressed concerns about the group work (33%) in their open ended responses.

These comments were immediately addressed by the lecturer, who spoke about graduate qualities,

expectations in the workforce, building a team code of conduct and steps to follow should problems

arise.

Thirteen students also commented on concerns that only limited information on the businesses would

be available (18%). Interestingly, this was alluded to by Golen, Burns and Gentry (1984) who

mentioned a lack of knowledge as a weakness of ‘live’ case studies. The lecturer immediately

provided additional written notes that had been recorded by the authors in the pre-interviews with the

businesses, which provided details on employee numbers, business hours, major suppliers, raw

materials, major costs and many other details of the business operations for both businesses on the

course website.

The second survey occurred in the final teaching week for the subject, approximately six weeks after

the initial survey. It asked identical demographic, opinion and open-ended questions as the first

survey, except that it posed the questions as to how they had experienced the live case study, rather

than their expected experiences with it.

DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

Table 1 in Appendix 2 shows the demographic breakdown of the students who answered the first and

second surveys. Of the eighty-nine students enrolled in the topic, seventy-two (or 81%) of the students

responded to the first survey. The demographics of the responders were consistent with the usual

demographics of the enrolment, and given the large response rate, the responses were likely to be

reasonably representative of the overall student views. Only fifty (or 56%) of the enrolled students

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completed the second survey. As discussed in Porter and Whitcomb (2005) in general, a higher

proportion of students who were female, older, had a higher existing educational level and were

Australian born answered the second survey than the first. The response rates and the characteristics

of non-responding students means that the findings, especially in regard to the second survey, must be

seen as having limited validity. Table 1 in Appendix 3 compares students’ responses before and after

the live case study. We used a two sample test of proportion to see whether the distributions of the

answers between the “before” and “after” surveys were the same, and we found only one significant

difference. In general, the majority of students expected to gain a deeper understanding of the theories

and concepts taught in class, and second survey respondents reported that they did (question 2), and

the majority of students expected that using a real small business would motivate them to achieve at a

higher level and respondents reported that they did (question 4) and they expected to, and found,

group work a good way to deal with the complexity of the live case (question 1). These results are

consistent with the students expecting to, and bringing, a deeper approach to learning in the live case

studies.

Using the Kolb (1984) experiential model, the majority of students reported they expected to use

abstract conceptualisation in drawing on class theories and concepts (questions 2 and 7) and

respondents agreed they did.. Students expected to and did test theories and ideas from the topic in

their case study (question 6), and they expected to and did use reflection to think about how they

would write up a real work project of this type (question 8).

Further, a majority of students reported that they expected to find the use of live case studies to be

more interesting and more motivating to perform well (questions 3 and 4), and respondents reported

that they did so at completion of the assignment. However, question 3 showed a significant difference

in the pattern of responses, with a significant reduction in the level of agreement between their

expectations and the reality of their level of interest in working with the real small business.

A majority of students also reported that they expected group work was a good way to deal with the

complexity of reality, and they would gain a better understanding of the resource constraints

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experienced by small business and thought about how a real work project would be written up

(questions 1, 5 and 8). All of these expectations were reported as having occurred. These are areas

that support the development of employability skills, as students acknowledge the value and use of

group work to deal with the more complex, resource-constrained real world and they think about real

world work reports.

This encouraging response was supported by the student responses in the open ended question of the

second survey, where numerous students commented positively on having the opportunity to apply

theory to real situations. Several comments indicated that students felt they had greater empathy for

the business owners, recognising that small business is complex and demanding. Actual student

responses are provided in Appendix 5.

Table 2 in Appendix 3 examines whether there were differences in the way different demographic

groups of the students answered the surveys. Table 4a reviews the first survey against the demographic

data, and Table 4b the same demographic data answered in the second survey. The employment

question was not tested against the data, as almost all of the students who answered the surveys were

employed.

There are very few significant differences noted in the way that the survey questions were answered

by different demographic groupings of sex, age, business versus non-business degree, country of most

recent qualification and country of birth. Except as noted in the tables, the Fisher exact test of the

medians was used to see if there was a significant difference between the underlying populations of

the two samples. We further tested the distributions of the answers from the five different Likert

categories using the Fisher exact test and we received the same results. Very few significant

differences were seen in the way that students answered the survey, with either in the “Before” or

“After” case. The significant result at the at the 2% level for question 5 showed a difference in the

“Before” case because males more strongly agreed with the proposition than females – however, there

was no difference between the two groups when looking at agreement rather than the strength of the

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agreement; and there was no significant difference between the sexes in the way they answered the

“After” case for the propositions.

The significant results for the question about group work in the assignment (question 1) and the two

different ways that students’ were asked about the likelihood that their native language was not

English were of a similar circumstance. Students whose last qualification was not in Australia, and

students’ who were not born in Australia, answered the proposition that they found group work a more

helpful way of dealing with the complexity of working with the real small business differently to the

Australian-qualified and Australian born counterparts of both those questions. This was true only in

the “After” questionnaire, and again, the differences lay in the strength of the agreement between the

two groups: in both cases, there was little difference in the majority values of students agreeing with

the propositions, the differences lay with the non-Australian versions of those questions agreeing more

strongly than the Australian versions. This is consistent with research from Gatfield (1999) and

Hunter, Vickery and Smyth (2010) indicating that (where group work is facilitated properly) students

can find group work helpful when they are faced with complex situations and where large amounts of

written and verbal language need to be processed. Gatfield (1999) suggests that this is especially true

for non-native English speakers in an English language environment. It was pleasing to see that four

students commented on the positive experience of group work in responding to the open-ended

questions, finding that sharing ideas within the group was advantageous (Appendix 5).

CONCLUSIONS

The authors found that the experience of using genuine small businesses in live case studies was a

positive one for all those involved – the lecturer, the students and the small businesses. This

experience aligns with the findings of Scharf and Bell (2002), Elam and Spotts (2004), Wynn, Jones,

Roberts and Little (2008) and Munro and Cook (2008) who discuss the positive role that live case

studies can play in encouraging higher order thinking in higher education, and provide a full learning

experience as outlined by Meredith and Burkle (2008). We believe that the project also enhanced the

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affective domain by creating interest and motivation for the students, as well as helping them develop

‘soft’ skills associated with communication, teamwork and problem solving.

Further research could investigate more closely the ways in which students engage with fictional and

live case studies. A comparison between the levels of cognition students display when they engage

with the same type of assignment based on a fictional case study, and a real business used as the case

study, would be of interest and may shed further light on the extent to which a real business makes the

learning more compelling, or not.

A shortcoming of this study was that students were not followed across the two surveys. Therefore, we

could not track across-time changes and any self-cancelling changes in these attitudes cannot be

revealed by an analysis of means. Future research could ‘track’ the student’s transition over the

semester, thereby providing more robust data for analysis and discussion.

It is planned to continue with live case studies in this subject, and indeed, to look at adding live case

studies to other Business topics as appropriate. The next step is to write about the benefits experienced

by the small businesses involved, and small business generally as this is an opportunity to transfer

knowledge between the business school, the small business community and the students, with

potential benefits for all involved.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to thank Dr. Laurence Lester for his excellent research advice, the two small businesses who were involved in the case studies, the editor, reviewers, colleagues and seminar participants for their comments.

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Appendix 1 - Survey Instrument

What is your gender? Male Female

What is your age group? 20 or younger

21-30 31-40 Over 40

What is your highest educational qualification? High School Certificate

TAFE Undergraduate Degree Other (please specify)

Where did you complete your most recent qualification? In Australia

Outside Australia What degree are you studying (please provide name of degree)

In what country were you born? Australia / New Zealand

China

India Other Asia Rest of the world

What previous work experience do you have? (please tick any that apply)

Full time employment (paid) Part time employment (paid) Temporary employment (paid) e.g. during holidays

Volunteering Placement / Internship None of the above/ Other (please specify)

Combination of above Are you employed at the moment? No, I am not employed

Yes, I am employed part time Yes, I am employed full time

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Student Perceptions (Adapted from Meredith and Burkle, 2008)

Stro

ngly

D

isag

ree

Dis

agre

e

Neu

tral

Agr

ee

Stro

ngly

A

gree

1. Working in a group will be a good way of undertaking a project with a real business because reality is complex and working in a group can help you deal with complexity.

1 2 3 4 5

2. Working with a small business will help students to gain a deeper understanding of the theories and concepts taught in class.

1 2 3 4 5

3. Working with a small business will stimulate my interest in this topic.

1 2 3 4 5

4. Working on ‘live’ business case studies will motivate me to try and achieve a high standard in my assignment.

1 2 3 4 5

5. Working on ‘live’ business case studies will introduce me to some of the resource constraints experienced by small business.

1 2 3 4 5

6. Working with a small business gives students the opportunity to test out theories and ideas taught in this topic.

1 2 3 4 5

7. Students will be better able to learn and remember theories, ideas and concepts when they are applied in real situations, giving them concrete experience in the way that business works.

1 2 3 4 5

8. Reflecting and writing up a project about a ‘real’ business will help me to think about how I would write up an actual work project.

1 2 3 4 5

9. Working on ‘live’ business case studies will help develop a stronger link and understanding between university students and industry.

1 2 3 4 5

10. Industry and students will benefit from developing relationships between university students and industry, through transfers of knowledge and new ideas.

1 2 3 4 5

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Open ended Questions (“After” questionnaires only)

What was the most important thing you learned about working with small business?

(one third of a page of space was given for the student to respond)

What did you enjoy most about the ‘live’ case study experience?

(one third of a page of space was given for the student to respond)

What did you enjoy least about the ‘live’ case study experience?

(one third of a page of space was given for the student to respond)

20

Appendix 2. Demographic Data

Before

After

N % N % Gender Males 50 70.4 32 64

Females 21 29.6 18 36 Age group < 20 19 26.8 9 18

21-30 47 66.2 36 72

31-40 2 2.8 3 6

40> 3 4.2 2 4

Highest qualification High school cert 54 76.1 35 70

TAFE 6 8.5 5 10

Undergraduate 4 5.6 5 10

Other 7 9.9 4 8

Location of qualification Australia 51 71.8 42 84

Overseas 19 26.8 8 16 Area of study B/Business 34 47.9 22 44

B/Commerce 10 14.1 9 18

B/Info Tech 10 14.1 7 14

Masters Info Tech 3 4.2 5 10

Other 7 9.8 2 4 Country of birth Australia/NZ 40 56.3 31 62

China 16 22.5 9 18

Other Asia 6 8.5 5 10

Rest of World 8 10.3 5 10 Previous work experience Full time paid 9 12.7 8 16

Part time paid 27 38 16 32

Temporary paid 7 9.9 2 4

Volunteering 1 1.4 1 2

None of the above /Other 6 8.4 4 8

Multiple above 21 29.6 17 34

Current employment Not employed 28 39.1 21 42

Part time 40 56.3 28 56

Full time 2 2.8 1 2

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Appendix 3

Table 1. Result of student survey (“Before” = 72 responses; “After” = 50 responses)

Agreed

Before After

Significance Disagreed

Before After

1. Group work good way to work due to complexity 81% 78% 8% 6%

2. Led to deeper understanding of classroom concepts 89% 88% 1% 4%

3. Stimulated my interest in the topic 75% 66% Sig. 3% 1% 10%

4. Motivated me to achieve a high standard 74% 80% 1% 4%

5. Introduction to small bus. resource constraints 88% 76% 1% 6%

6. Opportunities to test theories and ideas in the topic 72% 78% 7% 4%

7. Helped me learn and remember theories 82% 84% 1% 4%

8. Helped me think about writing up an actual work project 78% 74% 8% 2%

Note: two sample test of proportion used

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Table 4a. “Before” observations answered in the same pattern; cross-tabulated against student characteristics

Sex Male or Female

Age =>20; 21-30; 31+

Degree Business or Other

Most recent qual. In Aust or not in Aust

Born Aust, China or other

Sig. level Sig. level Sig. level Sig. level Sig. level 1. Group work good way to work due to complexity

N N N N N

2. Lead to deeper understanding of classroom concepts

N N N N N

3. Stimulate my interest in the topic N N N N N 4. Motivate me to achieve a high standard N N N N N 5. Introduction to small bus. resource constraints

Y 2% N N N N

6. Opportunities to test theories and ideas in the topic

N N N N N

7. Help me learn and remember theories N N N N N 8. Help me think about writing up an actual work project

N N N N N

TESTS USED:

1) SEX: Wilcoxon rank-sum test; Pearson Chi-squared test, continuity corrected and Kruskal-Wallis equality of populations rank test all used and same results achieved.

2) AGE: Fisher’s exact test 3) DEGREE: Fisher’s exact test 4) MOST RECENT QUAL.: Fisher’s exact test 5) BORN: Fisher’s exact test

Note: n = 71 for “Before” tests as one survey response was deleted due to partial answering of the demographic data.

23

Table 4b. “After” observations answered in the same pattern; cross-tabulated against student characteristics

Sex Male or Female

Age =>20; 21-30; 31+

Degree Business or Other

Most recent qual. In Aust or not in Aust

Born Aust, China or other

Sig. level Sig. level Sig. level Sig. level Sig. level 1. Group work good way to work due to complexity

N N N Y 1% Y 2%

2. Led to deeper understanding of classroom concepts

N N N N N

3. Stimulated my interest in the topic N N N N N 4. Motivated me to achieve a high standard N N N N N 5. Introduced to small bus. resource constraints

N N N N N

6. Opportunities to test theories and ideas in the topic

N N N N N

7. Helped me learn and remember theories N N N N N 8. Helped me think about writing up an actual work project

N N N N N

TESTS USED:

1) SEX: Wilcoxon rank-sum test; Pearson Chi-squared test, continuity corrected and Kruskal-Wallis equality of populations rank test all used and same results achieved.

2) AGE: Fisher’s exact test 3) DEGREE: Fisher’s exact test 4) MOST RECENT QUAL.: Fisher’s exact test 5) BORN: Fisher’s exact test

24

Appendix 5 Student responses to: WHAT DID YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT THE TOPIC? Real-life situations and the Application of Knowledge Using what we have learned in a real life situation. The opportunity to assist some SME to improve their situation and try to implement some of the things we learnt to their business. It is a business in the real world, understanding the problems they face can ensure a greater understanding of the theories in the topic and the relevance to small businesses. It reinforces the topics we learnt and restates the relevance of the topic. It is more interesting when I am able to apply my knowledge learnt in class to a real life business. Being able to research business and see how a real life business works. Examples that you can refer to theories and each to remember. The fact that it was real and had meaning. Being able to relate to real life business - applying theory learnt into actual practice. Analysing the business and its environment. The management. The concepts mentioned in our reports may actually be implemented which makes myself work for a better grade. How clear the description was - no ambiguity like there normally is in a made-up situation. It put you in the real life, you think it more in a real case instead of only theory and can say this is more practical. You got to experience thinking outside of the box. Working in real situations Dealing with a real life situation, rather than a false situation. The use of real-life cases helped students understand the material better. It is a more practical approach. Understanding / Empathy for small business Managing a small business is complex, demanding and rewarding. Could investigate beyond what was given to us - check website, competitors etc. Visiting the small business and having an idea of what it looks like and what it offers. Know strong points and weak points in the real business and have an idea for my future if I want to work. Learning about how each small business becomes established, each with its unique structure. Group Work Be able to work in groups in a real case study. Group work - sharing ideas. Being able to work in a group and to get different peoples points of view on business in order to achieve the best mark. Group communication and research on the case (brainstorming).